Posts Tagged ‘weighing’

Thanks to our new internal marketing resources, we are pleased to announce that we have updated our website to make it more intuitive to use and will enable everyone requiring load cells, load pins, shackles and indicators to find a solution to their requirements quickly and easily.

Also, watch this space for further exciting developments about our website.

tell us your application because you never know, we may be able to help with a better solution to your problem.

I say this because recently I had a little chuckle when talking to a customers of ours about their particular application. We sell a lot of our load cells for lifting and weighing applications, particularly for cranes. In this case, the customer had installed some equipment for load monitoring with the readout on the ground, this meant that when the crane was holding its maximum load, someone on the ground had to shout up to the man in the cab that the limit had been reached. Obviously this has lots of drawbacks, not least that it becomes a two-man job and requires vigilance and a loud voice! By using a load cell with a telemetry/wireless option, then the operator can see directly that the load limit is being reached and can plan his actions accordingly.

It’s a win-win situation. You tell us your application and we can suggest the best possible solution, either from our standard range or a customisedÂ solution from our in-house designers.

So, you can shout about that 🙂

I know this is a very difficult question to answer, but it is one I often find myself discussing both internally with people here at LCM Systems, my marketing people and friends down at the Golf Club. What makes people decide to buy? And in this case, I am talking about technical and engineering products.

Sometimes it’s obvious, the company you buy from is the only one that offers the exact product for your precise application. We often find this when engineers approach us for sophisticated and complex weighing systems, our design engineers are the only ones who truly understand what is required from the load cells and how they can seamlessly integrated to solve their application conundrums.

But what else drives people’s buying decisions? Of course, a product that is used in critical applications, particularly those with heath and safety implications need to be of the highest possible quality, otherwise lives could be at risk. I’ve written about this in a previous blog on LCM Systems’ Shackle load cells.

What about some of the intangibles? Is it important to you that our products are manufactured in the UK? Is delivery a key factor? What about price, is that the be all and end all of your search for load cells? With our internet sales growing year on year, I suppose it is also easy to forget that some people find that having a knowledgeable, helpful and friendly voice at the end of a phone to guide them through their buying decision is a major factor in deciding what company they buy from.

I’d love to hear from you. What is your Top 5 list of what influences your buying decision with respect to your engineering components? And most importantly, if you buy from LCM Systems, how do we rate?

Decisions, decisions

We are all very aware of todayâ€™s throw-away culture. In her recent book the Story of Stuff, published in May 2010 in the UK, Annie Leonard discusses how only 1% of products that we buy are in use 6 months later. You can see her talk about it in this excellent short animated discussion at The Story of Stuff.

But itâ€™s not just the consumer culture that is to blame for this huge wastage. Many of us want to follow the latest fashions, be they in the consumer world or business to business sector. Because fashions come and go, products are often made without much regard to quality so they can be sold cheaply. And here lies another problem – cost. If something is only going to be used for a short space of time then whatâ€™s the point in spending a lot of money on it?

But, and here is my point, what if the product is meant to last and its failure would have serious safety implications? The â€œpile â€˜em high, sell â€˜em cheapâ€ culture cannot be applied here, can it? Unfortunately it often is.

I know negotiation on price is part of business but compromise shouldnâ€™t be. Take for example the LCM Systemsâ€™ shackle load cells for lifting and weighing applications in harsh, rugged industrial environments. Known throughout the world as manufactured to the highest possible specifications in high tensile carbon steel and using Crosby or Greenpin shackles, there is no doubt that they can do the job, day in, day out without any safety or quality issues. So why are people buying cheaper? LCM Systems is not the only company (unfortunately 😉 ), who sell such high quality products, so itâ€™s simply a matter of choice.

Courtesy of freedigital images.net

It really is a case of Caveat emptor â€“ Buyer Beware. The cheap shackle load cells you are buying may claim to be equal, but is the safety of your personnel and the reputation of your company worth saving a few hundred dollars or pounds?

When quality, reliability and accuracy are essential, please check out the credentials of the company you are buying from â€“ it could save someoneâ€™s life